Fastenal Company $FAST Stock Position Reduced by Motley Fool Asset Management LLC

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) by 3.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 253,933 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,875 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $12,577,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAST. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fastenal during the second quarter valued at $5,105,454,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Fastenal in the second quarter worth about $859,310,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Fastenal in the second quarter worth about $410,919,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at about $239,279,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Fastenal in the 2nd quarter valued at about $230,169,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Fastenal in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Fastenal from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Fastenal from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Fastenal from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Fastenal and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.46.

Fastenal Price Performance

NASDAQ:FAST opened at $51.45 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $50.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.08. The firm has a market cap of $59.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.49, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.69. Fastenal Company has a 52-week low of $38.97 and a 52-week high of $52.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 3.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.62% and a return on equity of 35.13%. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. Fastenal’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fastenal Company will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fastenal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 83.87%.

Insider Transactions at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, Director Rita J. Heise sold 34,964 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total value of $1,749,948.20. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,001,000. This represents a 63.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Fastenal Profile

Fastenal Company is a distributor of industrial and construction supplies headquartered in Winona, Minnesota. Founded in 1967, the company primarily serves businesses that require products for manufacturing, construction, maintenance, repair and operations.

Its product range includes threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, industrial and safety supplies, tools, electrical and plumbing products, material-handling equipment, and other related items. Fastenal also provides inventory-management solutions, including automated vending machines, customer-specific inventory programs and onsite services designed to improve product availability and purchasing efficiency.

Fastenal serves customers through a network of locations and sales channels across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and parts of Asia.